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So you’ve thrown out the St. Pauli Girl sign, but how can you create an elegant masculine home without going space-age bachelor pad? Interior designer Kyle Schuneman, whose new guide, The First Apartment Book: Cool Design for Small Spaces, hits shelves this August, offers some truly dudely advice.

Design fans, get ready to add a hot new monograph to the bookshelf—Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec: Works by Anniia Koivu is out from Phaidon Press this month. A handsome, large-format tome, Works has all the eye candy of a coffee table book alonside Koivu's (a former design editor at Abitare) insight into the work of France's leading furniture and industrial design duo. Reached via email, she had this to say about the Bouroullecs, as apt a summation of their work as I've come across. "Their objects are artificially natural. A lamp is not just a light, but it becomes a hanging ensemble of different spots, that can shift and reflect differently with the movement of the wind. Single protrusions from the wall are small and informal shelves, which allow the user to drop off things for a moment without having to give the movement a second thought. A sofa becomes a sound-proof, cave-like room within a room (Alcove sofa for Vitra) that allows the user to hide from the surrounding action. We could say, that all their objects have a strong link to the very basic needs—even prehistoric—and behaviors of human beings. The Bouroullecs have the talent to turn any home or office into a natural environment. While the objects might be new, we are tricked into believing that they have been there forever, creating surprises and pleasure." Enjoy a quick spin through les freres' work.

Way back in our Dec/Jan issue that kicked off 2008, we told the story of the super groovy, surf bum-cum-architectural genius Harry Gesner. The man was a true California original, one who found a bombasitc balance between natural forms and outsized structural expression. A new book, due out next month from Abrams called Houses of the Sundown Sea: The Architectural Vision of Harry Gesner goes further into Gesner's life and work. Here's a preview of the lovely tome authored by Lisa Germany and illustrated with a raft of inspiring photos.

Tuesday evening, Danish design company Bo Concept debuted its newest collection, created by designer-about-town Karim Rashid. I walked up the pink carpet (a favorite color of the Egypt-born, Canada-raised impresario) and sat down for a ten-minute chat with Rashid about collaboration, kitsch, and the one thing he hasn't (yet) designed.

It's rare that a series of visual puns has much of a shelf life, but Paris Versus New York, a punchy book of illustrations comparing and contrasting the two cities from Vahram Muratyan merits repeated reading. His keen eye and flat, graphic style both work in the service of some pretty incisive criticism. Finding equivalents, contradictions, and remarkable similarities in the unique cultures of each place, Muratyan feels more like a crack pop ethnographer than gimmick artist. Check out the slideshow that follows to see how the City of Light stacks up against the Big Apple. You might think you know both, but I guarantee that you'll be surprised by this deft little book, which is out January 31st from Penguin.
Images Reprinted by arrangement with Penguin, A member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., from "Paris versus New York" by Vahram Muratyan Copyright (c) 2011 by Vahram Muratyan.

In this edition of Friday Finds, a look at Seattle's burgeoning design scene, a compendium of clever bookshelves, a photo essay of volcanic activity around the globe, and more. After today, Dwell is off for the Holidays, so see you in 2012 for our next installment of design finds!